Ayamonte
Malua
Harry Watson Smith
Wed 19 Sep 2012 18:46
We left the quiet river banks of the river near Huelva watched by the statue of Christopher Columbus and motored with the outflowing tide past the large gas refinaries and the number of large gas carrying vessels loading the local produce. As we reached the sea we turned westwards and set a course or the next major river mouth with a suitably deep entrance. We had timed our arrival two hours before the high water to take advantage of the depth and inflowing tide. The cruising guide warned to keep close to the port bank as we entered the river, which we did but found that the depth with the three meter tide was in our favour. The entrance is not that wide but at least 5 meters deep. On the port side is Portugal while on the starboard is Spain. We chose a marine on the Spanish side and with a fast flowing current aimed the bow down river of the entrance. The current slowed once we where inside the entrance but the depth was reduced to about 1 meter under the keel. This will limit our movement out with the 3 meter tidal range. We will have to wait for the approach of high water before we can leave.
We checked in at the Ayamonte Marine next to a Norwegian yacht we have encountered along the coast. The local supermarket supplied the vitals for the evenings meal.
Another magical moment on Malua.